One application of the invention is the secure transport of postal items from and between sorting offices and provides for the ready transport of those items between offices after they have been sorted.
Traditionally mail is carried to and from, and between, Post Offices in mail bags--fabric bags--in which all the mail items for a particular place (for example a City, a general postal or zip code) is placed.
On arrival at the it's destination the mail is removed from the bag and then re-sorted for particular sub-divisions of the area to which it has been sent (for example: a particular postman's walk, blocks or more detailed postal and zip codes).
When transporting postal items in a mail bag they become jumbled and when removed from the bag must be re-sorted in order that the address and postal or zip code can be seen. With the increasing use of mechanised sorting the need for ensuring that all the items of mail have their addresses on a surface which is to pass a machine scanner has increased and the traditional method of transporting mail requires the use of a number of operatives to ensure that this is the case by checking the orientation of the mail items.
It will be appreciated therefore that there is significant manpower required simply taking mail from a mail bag and reorienting it so that the surfaces on which the addresses and postal codes are located are in a position in which they can readily be scanned by a machine.
Proposals have been made, and in some countries have been put into practice, that after the initial sorting of mail it is transported between Post Offices in rigid trays in which all the mail items for a particular destination are stacked side-by-side such that the address on each of the items is orientated in the same way.
To effect this a number of rigid trays each carrying mail are placed in a large container, usually of metal, which is used to carry all the mail items to be taken from one particular Post Office to another at which the mail in the trays may again be sorted for delivery.
When transported in this way the mail in the trays does not need to be re-sorted to ensure the addresses on the mail items are in the same orientation--the mail items are held in the desired orientation within the rigid trays.
This proposal substantially reduces the cost of sorting the mail but requires the use of trays which are costly to produce and heavy and the use of containers (for the trays) which are costly, heavy and bulky. The result therefore is that the transportation cost of the trays and the containers--both when full of mail and when empty--is significant.
It is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus usable for storing and transporting mail items which substantially alleviates the difficulties of the traditional method of transporting mail between Post Offices and overcomes the disadvantages of the above noted proposals.
Objects of the invention include the provision of forms of container for use in transporting, inter alia mail, which substantially alleviates and/or overcomes the difficulties noted above.